What Happened Here?

Misschief · Jan 1, 2018

After reading about dual lye soaps, I've been experimenting a little. One batch is looking really good and, after 48 hours, is ready to cut. Yesterday, I made a batch of Lavender & Goat Milk soap, a soap I've made before. This time, I decided to try it with dual lye. Everything went well. The soap gelled, it smells amazing. But...when I unmolded it this morning, it looked like this. I've never had this happen before.

What would have caused this? The recipe is below.

MorpheusPA · Jan 1, 2018

That looks like a really, really severe goat milk burn--as in, it overheated severely. I've occasionally had that happen when using lots of oatmeal and honey in a recipe, too.

Most will recommend that milk soaps go into the fridge or freezer for 24 hours to saponify slowly and at low temperature. Then keep an eye on it as it may still heat up a good bit...

Misschief · Jan 1, 2018

Ah, that does make sense. It did get pretty hot. The milk was frozen when I added the lye but it still went very yellow.

cmzaha · Jan 1, 2018

that is a classic case of overheating, not the fault of the dual lye

Misschief · Jan 1, 2018

Will my soap be usable or do I pitch it?

MorpheusPA · Jan 1, 2018

Depends. The end bars might be OK, but...they also might smell really, really bad.

Hold off, cut what you can, and analyze the end bars. You might be able to rescue them.

The rest of it? Pitch.

Misschief · Jan 1, 2018

I've just cut the soap and, yeah, I'm pitching it. It smells very strongly of ammonia.

IrishLass · Jan 1, 2018

If it were me, I'd keep it and let it cure out before deciding to toss. In my experience, the ammonia smell has only ever been temporary.

IrishLass

MorpheusPA · Jan 1, 2018

The smell may be temporary, but the ugly is forever.

However, that's no bar (ha!) to using it at home.

Misschief · Jan 1, 2018

I will keep it for now and see what happens. It's definitely ugly and there's no way I'm selling it. I don't sell much anyway but this one definitely won't be found in anyone's bathroom but mine.

Obsidian · Jan 1, 2018

You could always chunk it up and rebatch. Might be able to get a interesting marbled look.

jcandleattic · Jan 3, 2018

If it heated up to the point of separation, I would rebatch or pitch, if not, if that's only pooled oils, and they eventually absorbed back in, I'm with IrishLass and others, let it cure and then make your final decision. Some of my ugliest bars have been ones that weird stuff happened too, but in the end and after a long cure, ended up being my favorite bars to use.

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